“ As for Nutcracker, he had a curious tingling sensation all over him, though he was only a copper penny; and, happening to look towards the hearth, he saw Santa Claus. The old fellow had tied up his reindeer and slipped down the chimney, and was winking hard, and wiping his eyes, while pretending to blow his nose.
“I have it! I have got it, and know what it is!” cried Nutcracker, at the top of his lungs. “The Christmas spirit lives here all the year round, and these people love one another, and are happy. ”

“ The rich men pulled out their purses, saying, “Come and work for wages!” The poor men said, “We have no time to talk!” and a child by a cottage-door said it must go to work. All day Merrymind wandered about with his broken-stringed fiddle, and all day he saw the great old man marching round and round the valley with his heavy burden of dust.
“It is the dreariest valley that ever I beheld!” he said to himself. “And no place to mend my fiddle in; but one would not like to go away without knowing what has come over the people, or if they have always worked so hard and heavily.” ”

“ A white hen carries his sledge; he himself sat in the carriage of the Snow-Queen, which passed right over the forest as we lay in our nests. She blew upon us young ones, and all died except we two. Coo! coo!”
“What is that you say up there?” cried little Gerda. “Where did the Snow-Queen go to? Do you know anything about it?”
“She is no doubt gone to Lapland; for there are always snow and ice there. Only ask the Reindeer, who is tethered here.”
“Aye, ice and snow indeed! There it is glorious and beautiful!” said the Reindeer. “One can spring about in the large, shining valleys! ”

“ Santa Claus put his hands down deep in his fur pockets, as if he was trying to hold himself. “What for! Aren’t you rich and they poor? Your own flesh and blood? Confound it, man! if you have not the instinct of a son and a brother, you must feel the Christmas spirit at least once a year in your heart, urging you to love and kindness towards your fellow-men.”
“Well, I don’t, then,” snarled Nutcracker. “Men need holidays to rest, I suppose, though I don’t; but for Christmas being any better, or having anything more in it than any other day, I say, bosh! ”

“ My fur boots are as much a part of me as my beard. Lady, I am, indeed, a foreigner, as to society; I was born in no city, town, or village, but in a cave full of dry leaves and soft twigs. The truth is, I am not a man—but a Bear!”
As he finished speaking he took off his comforter, coat, and cap—and sure enough a Bear he was, and one of the largest that was ever seen! ”

“ An old grandmother was sitting in the air, with her granddaughter, the poor and lovely servant just come for a short visit. She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure, virgin gold in that blessed kiss. There, that is our little story,” said the buttercups.
“My poor old grandmother!” sighed Gerda. “Yes, she is longing for me, no doubt; she is sorrowing for me, as she did for little Kay. But I will soon come home, and then I will bring Kay with me. It is of no use asking the flowers; they know only their own old rhymes, [216] and can tell me nothing.” ”

“ Merrymind was glad to run the whole way for fear of him. The door was still open, and the moon was shining in; but by the lifeless hearth there sat two fair maidens, all in white, spinning on silver wheels, and singing together a blithe and pleasant tune like the larks on May-morning. ”

“ Merrymind could have listened all night, but suddenly he bethought him that these must be the night-spinners, whose threads would mend his fiddle; so, stepping with reverence and good courage, he said:
“Honourable ladies, I pray you give a poor boy a thread to mend his fiddle-strings.”
“For seven times seven years,” said the fair maidens, “have we spun by night in this deserted cottage, and no mortal has seen or spoken to us. Go and gather sticks through [287] all the valley to make a fire for us on this cold hearth, and each of us will give you a thread for your pains.” ”

“ The flakes ran along the ground, and the nearer they came the larger they grew. Gerda well remembered how large and strange the snowflakes appeared when she once saw them through a magnifying-glass; but now they were large and terrific in another manner—they were all alive. They were the outposts of the Snow-Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like large, ugly porcupines; [243] others like snakes knotted together, with their heads sticking out; and others, again, like small, fat bears, with the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness—all were living snowflakes. ”

“ The currants are rubies, the apples are topazes, and the plums are amethysts or sapphires. If you are able to reach this garden and gather a basketful of cherries you might enrich yourself and family for life; and then your father might have the best doctors. He would want for nothing and might soon get well.”
Winikin was delighted at the idea of such a garden, and asked Roger to show him the way to it.
The old huntsman then took him to a kind of grotto that was so completely hidden by brushwood that the little boy had never seen it before though he had often crossed that part of the forest. ”

“ That night Butterwops did not come down from the fireplace, but looked out from the wood pile in great trouble. When all his army of beetles were creeping and crawling over the floor, picking up food and having a rare good time, he kept shouting out from the edge of a log: “Do go home! Do go in! There’s a hedge-hog in the corner.”
But some of the beetles went close to Curlywig to look at him, and came back and said to Butterwops: “Nonsense, it’s only a mop-head. You are growing old and nervous, General. Go to bed and let us eat in peace.” ”

“ In the morning Gerda told her all that the wood-pigeons had said; and the little maiden looked very serious, but she nodded her head, and said, “That’s no matter—that’s no matter. Do you know where Lapland lies?” asked she of the Reindeer.
“Who should know better than I?” said the animal; and his eyes rolled in his head. “I was born and bred there; there I leapt about on the fields of snow.”
“Listen,” said the robber-maiden to Gerda. “You see that the men are gone; but my mother is still here, and will remain. As soon as she sleeps a little I will do something for you.” ”

“ Merrymind was weary with his long journey, and stood thinking of what path to choose, when, by the way of the valley, there came an old man as tall and large as any three men of the north country. His white hair and beard hung like tangled flax about him! ”

“ Meantime, we had slowly advanced toward the Man of Snow, poor Mr. Downes telling us all the time that the Man would be sure not to utter a word as we had disobeyed his directions.
“But see,” said papa, “the moon is now rising!”
“Aha! ’tis no matter now,” answered Mr. Downes in a melancholy tone. “The Man of Snow will not speak a single word.” Mr. Downes had scarcely said this when a voice [113] from the Man of Snow called out in a loud tone:
“How you do, Massa Down—how you lilly granddaughter do—and how you do you black bird, Massa Gaffer Downes?” ”

“ That night “The General” called all the beetles round him after the cook had rolled the rug up and had gone to bed, and, sitting on the heel of one of the master’s boots which were drying on the fender, explained to all the beetles that they must move across the road. “For,” said he, “there is a newly married couple over the way. Now this kind of human being eats little else than sugar, and knows nothing of the ways of the world or the habits of the beetle. Their hearts are full of kindliness, and believing others to be [124] as good as they are, they leave the best food in the easiest places. ”

“ Mrs. Littlepump also said more than once that she hoped no accident would happen on the road to prevent the coming of Mr. Bear. Margaret now became very anxious and fidgetty, and looked at Uncle Abraham, as though she was a little vexed at his indifference about the event in which everybody else took so much interest. Dorothea, Lydia, and Wallis, all said they, for their parts, had been unable to sleep all last night for thinking of the stout gentleman’s story. But nothing of all this seemed to move Uncle Abraham, who sat smoking his Dutch pipe and twinkling his eyes. ”

“ Then Roger carefully described all the objects the lad was to pass [144] on the road, so that he could not miss the way. Also, he bade him not to loiter on the way for fear he should not be back by nightfall.
Winikin now entered the grotto but kept stopping every minute to admire its pretty sparkling walls, which glistened like diamonds and rubies as a sunbeam shone through the narrow opening. At last, however, he came out into the open meadows, in a part of a country which he had never seen before. Here he met a beautiful little boy with golden locks and cheeks as blooming as a ripe peach. ”

“ Santa Claus looked hard at Pepin to see if he was quite in earnest. Pepin looked back at Santa Claus with a serious face. “Have your wish while you remain a prince,” said Santa Claus.
The courtiers stared, but no one had time to make any remarks; for Prince Nutcracker, in a violent hurry lest Buttons should get ahead of him, wished for the luck-penny. Now you know whoever has a luck-penny will make money, more money, much money, and will never lose any. ”

“ Littlepump.
“Oh,” said Mrs. Littlepump, “the Land of Shadows is full of delights of all kinds; and as to your brother’s affair of the heart, it is not the first time that a grave man fell in love with a merry girl. It was, at least, as natural [70] in him as in Mr. Bear—not to speak unkindly or disrespectfully of our dear departed friend.”
“But it certainly is the first time,” said Dr. Littlepump, “that a Bear, however good-natured, was so lucky as to become a Happy Shadow, such as you describe, and to be able to bequeath a young bride to his tutor. ”

“ There was a mob at the gates; the people, tired of Pepin’s jokes, had rebelled. Some ran one way and some another. Prince Nutcracker put his luck-penny in his pocket and walked out of the back door; no one stayed to look after the King and Queen, who were running about in nightcap and slippers, in a terrible fright; and if it had not been for Buttons, who, on the first alarm, ran to the palace, from which he had been kicked out six months before, they would have been in a sorry case, I think. ”

“ No doubt he would, only, in some mysterious way, Nutcracker found himself on his legs again, and he was walking as fast as he could with a pocketful of money, to buy a monstrous turkey, and the best overcoat in the city, and boots and a hat to match, and a new gown, and a dressing-gown, and a shawl and a set of paints, and a great bouquet, and a basket of toys, and candies—for whom? Why, for Buttons, and Grandpa and Grandma Nutcracker, and the pleasant little wife, and Pepin, and the children, of course! ”

“ We had a dinner party at our house and nearly all the time we talked of little else except the Man of Snow or rather what he had done when he was a giant in Lapland; and we thought that, perhaps, he might tell us the history of his life. We determined every one of us to go all together down to the great field when the moon rose. ”

“ When they came near the ground that midsummer morning, the stalls, heaped up with all manner of merchandise, from gingerbread upwards, the tents for fun and feasting, the puppet-shows, the rope-dancers, and the crowd of neighbours and strangers, all in their best attire, made those simple people think their north country fair the finest sight in the world. ”

“ What shall I do?”
“As far as I can learn,” continued Butterwops, “it is done like this. You take a young hedge-hog, the fatter the better, first remove the prickles and skin quickly——”
“Do be quiet,” groaned Curlywig, rolling himself up into a ball. “What shall I do? What shall I do?”
“That is to say,” said Butterwops, “that is how it is done if they decide on tart. If it’s to be curry you won’t be skinned, only then you will catch it hotter in the saucepan.”
“Shut up!” shouted Curlywig, running round the kitchen table in despair. “Oh my poor prickles! What shall I do?” ”